1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a funnel device for use in filling tanks or other receptacles in general of any capacity, and especially for filling relatively small capacity gasoline tanks, i.e., 2-10 gallons, such as are mounted on lawn or garden motorized equipment, e.g., hand controlled or riding lawn motors and rototillers, or such as are used in motor boats, especially outboards.
The filling of such tanks typically results in overflow of the tank and spillage of environmentally deleterious and hazardous gasoline on the equipment, soil and vegetation, and in the case of boats, in the bilge wherein explosion, fire and death are the common results. Such overflowing is almost a natural aspect of filling small tanks to their capacity since the rising gasoline level during filling is not readily visible and excess gasoline is typically poured into the funnel and runs out around the funnel neck.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Previous funnel structures which have been proposed for preventing such spillage and which have included siphoning mechanisms of various designs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,273,166; 1,705,312; 1,810,822; 657,080; 4,494,585, the general disclosures of which in regard to useful funnel shapes, structural and siphon hose materials, and utility are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
It is particularly noted that in these prior devices, the siphon tubes or the like are fixed in both position and dimension on the funnel body or neck. This arrangement mandates that the tank always be filled to the siphon level, e.g., line 46 of the above noted U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,166, or that it be filled to some intermediate level below the siphon level, which intermediate level the person filling the tank cannot observe and must guess at.